The Victorian Government had deceived the people of Portland with the closure of Vestas’s turbine blade manufacturing plant in west Victoria and the loss of 136 jobs, said Denis Napthine in the Victorian Legislative Assembly on 22 August 2007.Alleged secret deal fruitless: “Despite this secret deal, this secret planning agreement, this secret funding of Vestas … we now find that Vestas has closed, 136 jobs have been lost, and we are just starting to build wind towers at Cape Bridgewater. The government has let down the people of Portland; it has lied to the people of Portland; it has deceived the people of Portland; and it has conned the people of Portland.”

Planning deal caused job losses: “Minister Theophanous in the other place said that Vestas’s employment was important to the state government. The Warrnambool Standard of 14 November 2006 states: ‘The Portland wind industry and the state government slammed the Liberals’ plan last week, claiming hundreds of wind energy positions would be lost and major projects cancelled’. The same article said that the Labor Party would secure those jobs. The Portland Observer of 20 October 2006, in the heat of the campaign, quotes Roy Reekie as saying: ‘I want to make sure that these workers keep their jobs, and I want to make sure that their jobs are secure for years to come’. Twelve months later, Vestas has closed and 136 people have lost their jobs under a dirty planning deal done by the Bracks and Brumby Labor governments.”

Reference: Denis Napthine, Member for South West Coast, Legislative Assembly, Victoria, 22 August 2007.